MSc. Candidate Department of Biology
Birthplace: Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada
BSc. University of Saskatchewan
Project: A comparative investigation of behavioural and physiological consequences of artificial light at night in nocturnal migrants and non-migratory songbirds
I completed my bachelor honour’s degree at the University of Saskatchewan. My undergraduate thesis was on how aquaculture can influence the dissolved oxygen profile in a large Canadian freshwater prairie reservoir, Lake Diefenbaker, Saskatchewan.
My master’s thesis is looking at how artificial light at night can affect the migratory restless behaviour and stopover physiology of a nocturnal migrant songbird, the white-crowned sparrow. My study involves a series of controlled experiments exposing wild-caught birds to light at night of different intensities across multiple seasons and compared to a resident songbird, the house sparrow. My goal is to develop a physiological mechanism that controls the changes in migratory-specific behaviour to understand fitness consequences of light pollution between migrants and non-migrants.